Game on, extra fat off

Published 1:00 am, Saturday, August 1, 2009

You're still walking around with those extra pounds. You haven't exercised in weeks. Your willpower has left the building and you are left wondering what it's going to take to finally reach your goal — the one for which the deadline has come and gone. And come. And gone.

We've all been there, even Krista Vernoff, a graduate of Troy High School and now Emmy-nominated head writer and executive producer of the prime time hit "Grey's Anatomy." She says you need a little friendly competition to get the job done. She co-created The Game On! Diet, which lays it out in a four-week game to be played with friends, family or co-workers, where you earn points for healthy things you do and lose points for the not-so-healthy ones.

When Vernoff had her daughter Cosette, she gained 50 pounds, which she carried for months after the birth. Feeling bigger than was physically comfortable for her and worried she was going to become permanently obese, Vernoff turned to good friend Az Ferguson, a Body-For-Life champion and health nut. Together, they created the Game On! Diet.

Being competitive, Vernoff played the game with vigor and lost the extra weight. With that, she discovered this new approach to getting healthy.

"This diet isn't even so much about encouraging weight loss as it is about encouraging health and an attitude that will allow you to accomplish healthy weight loss, toning or get off your couch for the first time in years," Vernoff says.

Q: Briefly describe the The Game On! Diet and how it workss Is it the goal-setting and teammates that keep you in check, as a weigh-in would?

A: Yes, the team aspect is huge. You're creating a natural support system — like a weigh-in would. But even more than that, at least for me, it works because I'm competitive. I genuinely felt that I was competing to win a game, not dieting to lose weight.

That psychological shift, for me, made all the difference in the world. But I have a girlfriend who I quoted in the book as saying, "I'm not at all competitive, but I'm the most codependent person I know, so that's why it works for me."

Funny, but true — and I think that's where the team aspect works as well. If you lose points, by eating unhealthy foods or failing to exercise or skimping on sleep or water, you are losing points for your team — and you have to answer to your team, which really makes you think twice before shoving a doughnut in your mouth.

Q: The book suggests that the diet is easy to follow, even for the busiest of people. However, keeping track of points, cheat days, exercise, sleep and checking in with friends sounds like a complex process. How is it easier than the other popular diets like South Beach or Weight Watchers?

A: It's easier for one reason: It's fun. Getting your life organized, planning your meals, finding time to exercise, getting to bed by a reasonable hour and changing an unhealthy habit in your life — it all may feel complex for a day or two because it's new. But with every test group we ran, the overwhelming sentiment was that the fun way outweighed the challenges. And then you start losing weight, and you start feeling better because you're not just watching what you eat — you're finally getting enough sleep and enough water and enough exercises and maybe you're meditating or reading again or decluttering your house, or some other healthy habit. And all of that has a massive impact on your energy, and by extension, on your whole life.

Q: The book seems to be more than a diet book, it encourages being healthy. How would you explain being healthy especially to those making a change for the first time?

A: The Game On! Diet asks you to look at everything you're putting into your day, not just what you're putting into your body. We've had people quit smoking with the game. We've had people get off prescription drugs successfully for the first time in years. We've had people fully recover from diagnosed sleep apnea! We've had people lower their blood pressure.

We've had single women find boyfriends by playing the game! I mean it — a woman I work with made it her "good habit" to "wink" at a guy every day on her online dating site because she was lonely and she knew that her complacency in this area was leading to her loneliness. So she made the change — and ended up with a ton of dates.

Q: The book prefers a group effort over an individual only game plan. Why do you think that is best?

A: Because of this one question that I ask in the book: In all likelihood, you've been dieting alone up until now. So you have to ask yourself — how well has that worked for you so far? Einstein — was it Einstein? I think it was Einstein who said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The Game On! Diet's team and competition aspects are essential because they pull the struggle we all have to get healthy and fit out of the closet. Life is short. If you can take something that's always felt like work and turn it into fun — shouldn't you? Shouldn't you always?

Q: It seems like everyone would need to be really honest with himself and each other to not cheat or stretch the truth. Should the point person be a neutral party, maybe someone who is not participating in the game?

A: No. Integrity is an essential ingredient to the way the game works. And if a person can't be honest with themselves and their team? That's a thing they need to know and begin to change. Integrity is an essential ingredient in life, right? In happiness. So, start here, I say. Play. Play honestly. And then pay attention to where honesty becomes difficult, and learn something about yourself. Grow. Change. What the hell's life for anyway? Growing and changing.

Q: The food section gets a bit complex. Being a mom on the go, how do you stick with it and fit it all in your schedule and not be totally consumed by the game as you would counting calories, etc?

A: I plan ahead, which is not easy for me, but I do it. I cook a bunch of food on Sunday night. I hard-boil a dozen eggs. I have a pitcher of protein shake in my fridge at all times. I have chopped up celery and cucumbers — tons of it. I have fruit and nuts and string cheese always at the stand by — cause that makes a perfect meal. I have some healthy protein bars. And I carry a whole lot of Tupperware to work.

And this is the kind of thing I would never have done before. But I prepare my meals the way a mom might prepare her kids' lunch for school. Partly because I've learned that if I treat myself right, I'm a better mom and a better wife and a better boss and a better employee and a better writer and a better human being. And partly because I'm fiercely competitive and I don't want to freaking lose the game!

Q: Was the day off, meal off and 100 calorie snack a way for someone to cheat without going too far?

A:Yes, partly. Partly the meal off and day off are there for sound scientific reasons — basically you need to boost your calories a couple times a week so your metabolism doesn't get too comfortable, cause that's when you plateau. In the past, when I've "cheated" on a diet, I become so guilty that I just give up for the day and eat tons of crap. With Game On!, I never do that because I would lose too many points — so even if I've "cheated" — I quickly recover. I lost 40 pounds playing — and I've kept it off for over a year and a half.

Q: Exercise doesn't seem to be a huge part of the success of this program. You suggest just 20-minutes a day. If someone is following the rest of the game plan, does the exercise portion need to be intense.

A: Exercise is absolutely key to weight loss and a big key to winning the game. And if you're really inactive and obese or borderline obese, then any exercise will do. In the beginning, when I was over 200 pounds, I would often just walk around the neighborhood at a quick pace, and that worked for me. But now, I'm down to a size 10 and I have to exercise harder than that to see results. I often only do the required 20 minutes, but I do the high-intensity interval training that we talk about in the book. For many Americans, getting off the couch for 20 minutes is truly life-changing.

Q: The game is over, I have or haven't reached my goal, now what? Where do you go from here?

A: I suggest they take a week off and play again. There's always another goal. There's always the next level. Sometimes I don't play for a few weeks or even a month or two. But if I notice I've put on a few pounds, I call my co-author and just say, "Game on!" He's always happy to play, and we put great prizes on the line.

And here's the thing: Az Ferguson is an extraordinary athlete. He just ran the Boston Marathon in just over 3 hours. I am ... well ... me. I sit and write for a living. But Game On! levels the playing field — and what I mean by that is, sometimes I kick his hard-core athlete butt! Which, two years later, is still really fun.

The book is available online at amazon.com for $10.19. For more information about the book or how to play the game, go to http://www.thegameondiet.com.